The great leveller...

PEP must be performing nightly anti-rain dances because the Beeb reckons there will be none in the Newport area for most of this week.

Who are they kidding? This is south Wales we’re talking about.

Yes, there are televised Champions League last-16 first legs worth seeing in the next few days – but, let’s face it, Saturday evening’s game is easily TV match of the week.

Just thinking about the team Pep will put out to combat the pitch – as much as the Exiles themselves – is intriguing. This is one where the gritty English experience of Walker, Stones and Delph would be better employed than the flowing skills of a David Silva or a Mahrez.

Aguero et al would much sooner welcome an away match at Stoke on a rainy Wednesday night than the bumps and divots of Rodney Parade – on any day or night of the week.

The pitch is also used to play rugby on too, so, after some muddy scrums churn it up, let’s see how Citeh’s possession football works –

forget tiki-taka, this is stickycominatcha. After their replay defeat, Boro boss and Newport old boy Tony Pulis had the good grace to praise the Exiles, saying: “They were the better team, they ran all over us. It was men against boys.”

Let’s see whether Pep has the magnanimity to repeat that accolade... should the unthinkable happen to the Premier League champions.